


Tension and Release

by Raufnir



Series: Older Gladnis Series [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Badass Aunty Iris (mentioned), Blind Ignis, Canon Disabled Character, Disabled Character, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Nox and Clara are back, Uncle Prompto, and full of sass, no beta we die like men, oh gods I'm becoming a dadfic writer with this series, or Cindy. She might help, poor Prompto is pining, someone get that man a chocobo plushie, thanks for the comments on the last one you're all facilitators
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 08:46:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10486881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raufnir/pseuds/Raufnir
Summary: Followup to Playfighting. Another domestic one-shot, with a bit of Uncle Prompto for movie night, and Iggy's having a bad day. Sassy siblings Clara and Nox are there to make it worse and better at the same time. Thanks guys, you took my evening away by making me want to write this. And I loved it.





	

“Daddy, Daddy, Uncle Prompto’s here!” Clara yelled as she skidded down the hallway, her camo-print pants hanging low on her hips, the black tank top showing off her lean arms.

At thirteen Clara was a menace. A kind-hearted, sweet-souled, short-haired menace.

“Let him in then,” Gladio grumbled from the kitchen. Ignis, exhausted after a full day in the Lucian government building, had dropped a glass coffee pot and sent dark ebony grounds spattering up the cupboards, and though he had insisted on attempting to clean it up, Gladio had refused.

Thus, Ignis was in a strop upstairs, and Gladio was up to his biceps in coffee grounds and shards of glass.

Nox was in her room, reading most likely, but Clara was still tearing around the house.

“Gods above,” Gladio swore as he heard her thunder down the hallway and skid to a halt by the front door. How on earth a day of school and two hours of sparring with Iris hadn’t worn her out, he had no idea, and yet, here she was, with more energy than the meteorite at Lestallum.

The door opened, and Gladio heard Prompto’s bright tenor cry out in delight as the young girl flung herself at him. “Hey, hey!” he grinned. “Wow, you’ve grown at least half a foot since I saw you last week!” he laughed. “How you doing?”

“I’m good,” she chirped. “Papa’s upstairs. He’s grumpy ‘cos he dropped something, and Daddy’s cleaning up now. Nox is upstairs too. She said she’s looking forward to movie night as well, but she’s reading, so she might have changed her mind. What did you bring? What’s in the bag?”

“Ah-ah!” Prompto chided, “Introductions first. You say Gladio’s in the kitchen?”

“Yup.”

“Ok, let’s take the bag in there and we can find out together. Go get your sister, if she wants to join us, ok?”

The sound of Clara’s feet haring off upstairs reverberated through the house, and Prompto made his way into the kitchen as Gladio finished mopping up the last dregs of coffee and sweeping glass into a dustpan. The room still smelled like ebony, and Prompto inhaled it. “Jeez, there’s enough caffeine in the air in here to keep me up all night,” he said by way of introduction. “Hey there, Big Guy. How’s things?”

He hugged his best friend as the huge man straightened out of his crouched position on the floor, and Prompto caught the exhausted look on his face. “Oh Prom,” Gladio sighed. “Some days are just…” he blew all the air out of his cheeks and tossed the soggy mess of coffee grounds into the bin. He saw that Prompto was still wearing his uniform, and frowned. “You come straight from work?”

“Yeah. How’s things?”

“Well, Iggy’s exhausted.”

“No change there,” Prompto remarked.

“Tried to make himself coffee, but he dropped it. Nox is in a strop because she only got 93% on her maths test, Clara’s been hyperactive all day, and _that had better not be pic ‘n’ mix in that bag_ , Prompto…” he said, casting a dangerous look at the paper bag that now rested on the counter. He looked like he’d rather it held a live grenade than half a ton of sugary sweets.

“Ah…” Prompto faltered. “Well, it’s not pic ‘n’ mix, but…”

Clara burst back into the kitchen and hurled herself at Prompto again, hugging him tightly around his skinny waist. “Will you take us shooting again this weekend?” she asked.

Managing to un-peel Clara’s strong hands from his waist, he looked down at her and ruffled her hair. She had it cropped short, and it stuck up in all directions, and there was a scar on her eyebrow from fighting at school, but she had the longest eyelashes in the universe, and knew how to put them to good effect.

“Please?” she whined, pouting and looking up at him. “Please, it was so much fun last time…”

“You’ll have to ask your parents,” Prompto said uncomfortably. “But in the meantime, why don’t you go sit on the sofa, and I’ll get out the DVD’s I brought for you and Nox to choose from, ok?”

Gladio blessed him silently for deflecting that one, and sighed. He was dressed in his black sweatpants and a tight-fitting tank top, but he still looked like a soldier. Gladio always looked like a soldier. Prompto sighed. “Hey,” he said gently, resting a hand on his tattooed forearm. “You ok?”

Gladio sighed and lowered his head. “Yeah,” he rasped. “Just tired.”

When he looked up, his whisky coloured eyes caught sight of Nox standing silently in the doorway in her pyjamas. In contrast to her sister, she had let her hair grow long, almost to the small of her back, and it was sleek and dark as an oil slick. She regarded her daddy with massive blue eyes, and then smiled shyly at Prompto. “Hi, Uncle Prom,” she mumbled, her thumb in her mouth.

“Hey there, little one,” Prompto smiled, dropping to one knee and opening his arms. “Got a hug for me?”

She nodded and crossed to him, drawing her thumb out of her mouth in time to give him a tender cuddle.

“Oi, get over here and choose a movie,” Clara barked at her sister.

Gladio narrowed his eyes and said sternly, “Hey now, give her a minute will you?”

Clara sat back in the sofa cushions with a decided ‘humph’ and began to open the DVD case of the one she wanted to watch. Gladio, too tired to stop her, leaned back against the counter and ran his fingers across the two scars on his forehead out of habit.

“Where’s Iggy?” Prompto asked in a hushed whisper as Nox uncurled herself from Prompto’s hug and went calmly over to join her sister.

“Upstairs.”

“He ok?”

Gladio shook his head and cast his eyes at his girls. “His low, Prom. He’s real low today,” he hissed. “I… I don’t know… He won’t let me in…”

“Go and be with him,” Prompto smiled. “I’ll take care of these two rascals, and I promise there’ll be no sweets… just a little bit of hot chocolate and a nice movie night. Go be with your husband. Gods know, you both deserve it.” Prompto’s eyes filled with sadness and he turned away.

“Hey,” Gladio rumbled, grabbing hold of Prompto’s arm. “Are _you_ ok?”

Prom’s lip trembled. “No,” he sniffed. “Gods, I miss him so much.”

“I know.”

“You think he can see us?” he asked breathlessly. “You think he knows what we’ve achieved in his memory?”

“Yeah,” Gladio breathed. “Yeah, I’m sure. He’d be real proud of you especially.” His eyes went to his girls again and he added, “He’d be so proud of all you’ve done for Lucis’ children… for the hundreds of others just like our girls…”

“She looks like him,” Prompto said, eyeing Nox. “It’s uncanny.”

“Yeah,” Gladio agreed. “It’s weird. I think we’re mostly just projecting though.”

“Still.”

Nox looked over her shoulder at the two older men and saw the unshed tears in their eyes. Her little face softened and she flashed them a smile as soft as moonlight. Prompto sniffed, pushing the memory of his dead lover to one side and digging Gladio in the ribs at the same time. “Go upstairs and treat Ignis to an evening he deserves, ok?”

Gladio’s smile was sweet and grateful, and he tugged Prompto in for a quick hug before heading out of the room. “You girls behave, ok?” he shot at them, pointing a finger in their direction, and they both nodded like soldiers before their captain. “Good.”

Gladio looked back once as he left the room and saw Prompto’s broad, sunshine smile, and couldn’t help feel his own heart lighten. Then he heard a crash from upstairs and his blood ran cold.

He took the stairs three at a time, and burst into his and Ignis’ room. “Iggy?” he called.

“I’m fine, gods dammit, I’m fine,” he snarled from the bathroom. His statement was quickly followed by a string of curses and a final crash.

“I’m coming in,” Gladio announced.

Ignis was leaning over the sink, arms braced on the rim, head bowed low, glasses off, his breath coming in short, uneven rasps, and Gladio recognised the beginnings of one of his anxiety attacks.

“Hey,” he murmured. “Come with me. Leave it, just leave it. Come with me.”

Abandoning the mess of broken ceramic on the floor from the soap dispenser, and kicking the shaving foam can out of the way with his toe, Ignis turned and allowed himself to be led out of the bathroom. “I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely as Gladio steered him onto the bed and forced him to sit. He was shaking from head to toe.

“Shh,” Gladio said, cupping his face gently in his hands. “Shh, it’s ok.”

“It bloody well isn’t,” he fired back. “I can’t even shave myself for gods’ sake without making a mess. First the coffee, now this…”

“Stop it,” Gladio demanded. He switched to a more gentle tone. “Please, Iggy, be a little kinder to yourself. You can’t see. It’s ok to drop shit every now and again. And anyway,” he added with a smile. “Which of us dropped the _entire_ Sunday roast on the floor last weekend?”

Ignis finally let his shoulders slump, and he smiled. “You did, Gladio,” he said in tired exhale. “You did. And we had to have bloody Cup Noodles instead.”

“Exactly.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Gladio chased his response with a kiss, and traced his thumbs over Ignis’ cheekbones. “So damned much. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Ignis sighed, his head drooping. “No,” he replied. “It’s I who would be lost without you.”

Gladio smirked and pressed another kiss, harder this time, into his perfect lips. He tipped him back onto the bed and stripped him tenderly of his clothes. When they were both naked, and writhing in each other’s embrace, Ignis let himself fall apart in Gladio’s hands for the first time in a long while.

Neither of them heard Prompto put the girls to bed, and when they emerged early the next morning, the whole of the downstairs was immaculate. They came to a halt in the doorway to the living room. “Suspicious,” Ignis murmured when Gladio mentioned it. He sniffed. “Is that…” he sniffed again, “Pancakes? Waffles?”

When Gladio began to laugh softly, a low, whickering rumble, and placed a hand on his husband’s lower back, Ignis frowned. Unusually, considering he was inside, his blind eyes were shielded by his dark glasses, and he couldn’t see a thing.

“Care to elaborate?” he asked archly, but Gladio simply applied gentle pressure on the small of his back and guided him into the kitchen. Ignis turned his head side to side, picking up the soft sound of sizzling, and he inhaled again. “What’s this?” he demanded, a little more forcefully.

Gladio still said nothing, but chuckled as he pushed Ignis further into the room and ran his hand down Ignis’ arm, gathering up his hand and placing it onto something.

A soft, small, short something. Which giggled.

“Nox?” Ignis asked. “What are you doing? You shouldn’t be in here using the cooker on your own…”

Gladio thought Nox’ heart was going to break. He leaned into Ignis’ ear and cautioned, “Gently, Iggy. She’s doing just fine.”

“I made you breakfast,” she said quietly.

“You did?” Ignis asked.

“Mmhmm,” she nodded, her lip going a little pouty and vulnerable. “I… You and Daddy have been kinda sad, so I thought…” she sniffed and turned back to flip the thick, fluffy pancake over before it caught.

Gladio was the next thing to smacking Ignis over the back of the head, but luckily, Ignis kicked his brain back into gear, and he squeezed her shoulder gently, kneeling down beside her and holding her close to him. “Thank you, little one,” he crooned as he buried his face in her hair. “You have a heart of pure gold. Thank you.”

Nox turned her eyes up to Gladio while her papa embraced her, and he gave her a massive thumbs up and grinned, “You did good, kiddo.”

She beamed quietly and ticked Ignis off by tapping him on the head with the spatula, scolding him for holding her too long. “They’re gonna burn!”

“Apologies,” he said, straightening and reaching for Gladio to steady himself. “Shall I get plates?”

“They’re in the oven already, keeping warm,” she said. “But you could get the maple syrup out of the fridge, and Daddy, you could lay the table.”

Gladio tipped his head back and roared with laughter.

“Precocious child,” Ignis scoffed under his breath.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments gratefully received, but as ever, I'm just happy you swung by for some Gladnis this time! You can also find me on Tumblr @expectogladiolus


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